"It wasn't one decision, it was a series of decisions": CFB analyst reveals the domino effect of conference realignment in the recent Pac-12 fallout

Conference realignment has been a major story throughout college football and does not seem to be going away anytime soon. With the major conferences attempting to grow their numbers to the point where the members increase and fewer conferences survive, it is a new era of the sport.

College football expert Joel Klatt spoke on a recent episode of his self-titled podcast about how the Pac-12 demise was because of a series of issues in conference realignment. Klatt said:

"All the linear networks basically had enough money for college conference to get a new television deal. The Big 12 beat the Pac-12 to that deal. They secured their rights on linear television with a deal between FOX and ESPN.

"When that happened, the Pac-12 was unfortunately out of luck. They tried to cobble together a streaming deal. That didn't work. They declined it and at that point, it became trying to find a lifeboat off of the Titanic."

After giving the analogy of the Titanic, Klatt begins to explain that it was not just a singular decision that led to this. He added:

"So why did we get here? A long string of dominoes. It wasn't one decision. It was a series of decisions that led to this moment in which the Pac-12 is on life support and we've got mega conferences now throughout college football."

The conference realignment has been something that has been happening for a few years. However, it will be interesting to see how the sport unfolds as we get closer to a College Football Playoff expansion.

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Does conference realignment help or hurt the sport?

Conference realignment can have some serious impact on the sport as a whole. The positives are the fact that we will be seeing more significant conference games throughout the college football season. If more conferences begin to expand and decide to add programs, the matchups on a weekly basis are going to be immaculate.

There are some negatives as well with the dissolving of conferences with significant history like the Pac-12. The college sports world seems to be a lot of the haves vs. have nots and that is something that can change. At the drop of a hat, the Southeastern or Big Ten Conference could just poach schools left and right and put a lesser conference in shambles.

While the excitement is definitely there, without parameters in place to limit the movement from happening, it could be the wild, wild west. While people were worried about Name, Image and Likeness, conference realignment became the real predator in the collegiate game.